The Dukes of Hazzard was a mainstay television show in the early 1980s. It was one of those shows that young people would mark their calendars for to make sure they never missed an episode.
This means that there was an extremely loyal following for many years. Since then, Dukes of Hazzard saw a resurgence of fans after a movie was made based on the show. The 2005 movie starred Burt Reynolds as Boss Hogg, Sean William Scott as Bo Duke, and Johnny Knoxville as Luke Duke.
Boss Hogg is one of those characters that viewers of the show quickly grew to dislike. On the show, Sorrell Booke played Boss Hogg and did a wonderful job. It is a sign of a good actor that fans can so strongly dislike a certain character. This was certainly the case for Boss Hogg on Dukes of Hazzard.
There is a really interesting fact about Sorrel Booke that might surprise even the most devoted fans. When Sorrel Booke decided to take on Boss Hogg, he had one important stipulation added to his contract. This stipulation was that he was never going to do truly evil things. Those evil things would be classified as dealing drugs or murder.
“Dukes of Hazzard” Actor Sorrell Booke Had an Interesting Stipulation in His Contract
Boss Hogg was the main antagonist of Dukes of Hazzard, alongside Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane. The character was never supposed to be likable, and thus the writers could get creative with his personality.
The writers made sure to let the viewers of the show know that he was a crooked man. Boss Hogg was as wealthy as he was corrupt. More importantly, he was the county commissioner and Bo and Luke’s probation officer.
Sorrell Booke understood exactly what the show was going to require his character to do. But, the actor himself was wary of how far to take those actions for Dukes of Hazzard. So, in his contract, he wanted to make sure that there was some semblance of good in Boss Hogg. For Booke to do so, he needed an extra clause in his contract.
The extra clause stated that Boss Hogg would never be dealing drugs. He also was taking a hard stance on how Boss Hogg would handle certain situations. Consequently, Booke added a clause that said Boss Hogg would never kill anyone in Dukes of Hazzard.
Dukes of Hazzard writers understood this contract and were happy to accept it. So, they were able to create a character that was still a bad, corrupt person. And they did it all without the use of drugs or murder. Sorrell Booke was so integral in his role that he was in every episode of the show.
